How to ride a motorcycle in the rain

[sendler]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KycZk1M7g24

[low&slow]

great stuff.... kinda like Sendler on his commute in the frozen Northeast !!! JK

[Cd]

Makes me want to take up riding bikes !
That guy mastered that machine .

[bschloop]

Reminds me of Ice Racing in northern MI, only for ice they use dirtbikes with studded tires.

[IsaacMTSU]

Reminds me of myself back in August...only my bike went down 1/2mi from home after a 60mi pouring rain ride

[sendler]

Originally Posted by low&slow

great stuff.... kinda like Sendler on his commute in the frozen Northeast !!! JK

I never ride on ice or when it has been below freezing at any point but it rains and or snows 170 days a year in Syracuse so I ride in the rain quite often and I'm pleased to report that the stock IRC tires on the CBR250R (and Ninja) are excellent in the rain as I have never felt them slip. Even while exploring the limits of wet braking by intentionally mashing the lever when experimenting close to home in the rain. It is also surprising how much clear visibility remains when you lay on the tank and peek through the magic dry spot that materializes just above the wind screen while riding at highway speed. The only thing that really gets wet are my toes.

[SentraSE-R]

Kind of reminds me of when they held the USGP world points road races at Laguna Seca. Those world class guys came down the final straightaway at >140 mph, hit the binders so hard you could see their bikes wobble, and lifted their front wheels on the next 3 shifts coming out of turn 1 going into turn 2, a blind left turn dropoff. Those top tier riders are scaringly crazy good!

[Ed-in-Maine]

Awesome ride, wish I were half as good. But modern ABS make me pretty good on breaking in the rain
Ed

[user removed]

Originally Posted by sendler

I never ride on ice or when it has been below freezing at any point but it rains and or snows 170 days a year in Syracuse so I ride in the rain quite often and I'm pleased to report that the stock IRC tires on the CBR250R (and Ninja) are excellent in the rain as I have never felt them slip. Even while exploring the limits of wet braking by intentionally mashing the lever when experimenting close to home in the rain. It is also surprising how much clear visibility remains when you lay on the tank and peek through the magic dry spot that materializes just above the wind screen while riding at highway speed. The only thing that really gets wet are my toes.

Put a baggie over your socks Sendler .
regards
Mech

[alvaro84]

Originally Posted by sendler

I never ride on ice or when it has been below freezing at any point but it rains and or snows 170 days a year in Syracuse so I ride in the rain quite often and I'm pleased to report that the stock IRC tires on the CBR250R (and Ninja) are excellent in the rain as I have never felt them slip. Even while exploring the limits of wet braking by intentionally mashing the lever when experimenting close to home in the rain. It is also surprising how much clear visibility remains when you lay on the tank and peek through the magic dry spot that materializes just above the wind screen while riding at highway speed. The only thing that really gets wet are my toes.

In normal years we have less rain, and I'm thankful for it. Teresa is not really cut for laying on the tank (oops, the tank is somewhere else, I sit on it), and I like upright position much better (I know that it's aerodynamically bad, but laying on the tank is a moderately big no for me, and I'm scared ****less even at the thought of something recumbent) so if it really rains, I soak. I have rain clothes which keep me pretty dry, but I have to know of the rain before I go to put them on.

Sometimes I ride in the frost too, I didn't stop riding until the end of January when suddenly two-digit negatives became common and snow came too. Now I'm starting it again soon, this new snow should't last more than a day, it's much warmer now, so I can bring my beloved bike back from the workshop where I took her last Monday and where she gets her winter maintenance.

I even had a little accident when I tried to go down our steep hill on black ice. I couldn't maintain my upright position, to say the least...

On the tires: these Heidenau K73s I have on Teresa could really be called winter tires, they grip better on cold roads than the Metzeler Z6s before. They seem to have more rolling resistance, though, I got a bit worse FE last year than before. I'll try something else when I'll have worn them off.